Necktie guide



July 19,A 1938. A. F. HENDERSON 2,123,945

NECKTIE GUIDE Filed Feb. 25, 1957 Patented `luly 19, 1938 UNTED STATES PATENT OFFHCE 2 Claims.

The subject of the present invention is an article of manufacture intended and adapted to be attached temporarily to a necktie and to serve as a guide or pilot to lead the tie into the space within the fold of a turned down collar. Considerable difliculty is found'by the wearers of turn over collars in adjusting the back band of the tie beneath the turned down part of the collar and leaving such part in a smooth condition. This diiiiculty is particularly pronounced with attached shirt collars when laundered with starch. If the collar is turned up before the button at the wearers throat is fastened, so as to facilitate placement of the tie around the neck and making of the knot, the turning down of the collar afterwards breaks the smooth laundered surface and leaves creases and hollows Which cannot be obliterated by manipulation and destroy the desired fresh appearance of a clean collar. The same difliculty occurs with lightly starched detachable collars which are not stii enough to grip the band of a tie which has been inserted into the fold of the collar before attachment of the latter to the neck band of the wearers shirt.

Having experienced these difficulties, I have felt the need for a practicable means for adjusting a tie Within the fold of such a collar, after the same has been buttoned around the wearers neck, and without causing the collar to be wrinkled or its starched and laundered outer surface to be broken or dented. The invention described in the following specication is my solution of the problem thus presented.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification,-

Fig. 1 is a perspective vieW of one form or embodiment of a guide illustrating the invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are, respectively, a front elevation and a side elevation of another form of the same invention, differing from the one first described in that it is made of Wire, While the other is made of sheet metal;

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are Views of a collar in the shape which it assumes when buttoned around the wearers neck, showing successive stages in the operation of inserting a necktie into the fold of the collar;

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occur in all the figures.

The embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 6 is made of resilient sheet metal, or equivalent material, and consists of a plate portion a having one or more spring clips b, b and a projecting tab or pilot portion c.

The plate and spring clips together form a body portion slightly thicker than the tie and the projecting pilot tab is of less thickness than this body portion for a purpose that will appear more fully below. Preferably two spring clips arek suicient length to provide the spring clips, and` then to bend such extensions over against the plate portion so that the clips and plate portion form the body of the device, and turn their eX- tremities outward so as to facilitate insertion of the back band of the tie between the plate and the clips.

Any metal may be used which has sufficient stiiness, strength and elastic resilience, but the material should not be sothick as to make the nished article objectionably bulky. Objectionable bulk is that which, when the guide is used in the manner presently described, would be liable to distort the collar so sharply and far as to leave a visible ridge in its outer flap. Without intending to indicate limitations of quality and dimensions, I would say that the guide shown in Fig. 1 is made of hard rolled sheet brass having a thickness of .020, its body portion is ,1L- long from its junction with the tab portion c, and its Width the tab is 1/8 long in its middle part from its junction with the body part and M1" wide, and has a rounded end; and the spring clips are long from the bends where they join the plate portion and are each 1/4" Wide. However, considerable variations may be made from the dimensions named. Sheet steel and other alloys of iron, silver and other metals and metal alloys may be used, and the articles, when made of base metals, may be plated or lacquered or otherwise ornamented to give them a more attractive appearance.

It is not necessaryeven that the devices be made of metal, for they may be of non-metallic material, such as Celluloid, hard rubber, bake- .f

lite or other similar synthetic resins, etc., molded to the desired form. The only limiting factors are that the material of the body part and clips have suiiicient resilient strength to grip the tie rmly enough to be carried along through the channel in a folded over collar with the tie, and that these associated members be not too bulky within the definition of objectionable bulk hereinbefore given. Neither is it essential that the body, clips and pilot tab be integrally joined together. One or more of these parts may be made initially separate from the others and connected to it; although of course considerations of economy favor the integral mode of manufacture.

An equivalent guide device may be made of wire, as illustrated by Figs. 2 and 3. Here a single length of wire is bent at its middle point to form a loop d and parallel legs e, at two other points equally distant from the loop d to form loops f, f and parallel legs y, y extending back toward the loop d, (all of which legs are in the same plane or substantially so), and finally again bent at points h, h so as to form terminal legs i, :i which are parallel to one another but in a different plane from that of the legs e and y. The loop d projects beyond the loops h, h and forms the equivalent of the pilot tab c. The legs 7', j form the equivalent of thel clips b, b of Fig. 1 and cooperate with the legs e, y at each side oi the median plane of the guide device to grasp an inserted necktie. Each pair of legs e, g forms in eiect a clamp equivalent to the plate portion a of Fig. l; and, conversely, the marginal zones of the plate portion a form clamps cooperating with the clips b, b and equivalent to each pair of legs e, g of the Wire construction.

In use, the guide device is applied to the necktie 7c at a point sufficiently far removed from the narrower end of the tie to lie in front of one of the wings, as the wing l, of the collar when the tie has been passed around the wearers neck and the narrow end brought far enough forward at one side of the neck to be conveniently grasped by the hand of the wearer at that side. After the collar has been buttoned at the wearers throat with the flaps turned down, as represented in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the tie is passed around the wearers neck with the narrow end brought forward only far enough to be grasped easily by the hand at the same side. 'The tie with the attached guide device is passed under the wing Z of the collar at the other side, as shown in Fig. 4. If the tie is entered into the collar from right to left, as shown in the drawing, the wearer pulls forward on the narrow end of the tie with his left hand while maintaining an upward pressure on the guide with his right hand until the guide has passed well into the collar toward the back of the neck. Thereafter continued pulling on the narrow end brings the guide all the way through the collar channel and out at its front end provided thewearer with his right hand keeps the entering part of the tie raised and maintains an upward draft on the leading part of the tie under the left hand wing Z of the collar. With very short practice the user can learn to insert a necktie within the outer ap of a turned over collar quickly and easily, after the collar has'been buttoned around the neck, and without bending or wrinkling the collar or breaking its smooth laundered finish.

While I have described the operation as being to draw the tie around the wearers neck from the right side lto the left side, it will be understood that the same operation may be performed in the opposite direction with the difference only that the right hand is used for pulling and the left hand for directing the guide into the collar channel at the beginning of the operation.

It will be apparent that the guide may be caused to grip the tie with any necessary degree of firmness by suitably bending the clips or by making them with offsets toward the complemental clamp portions, and the latter with openings or offsets if desired into which the tie may be deflected by the clips.

The tab or pilot projection of this device performs an important function in that, being of less thickness than the body portion of the device, it enters With a minimum of resistance into the narrowest part of the collar channel next to the fold and serves in eiect as the tip of a wedge, of which the bends of the clips form the base portion, in opening a clear passageway for the tie betweenthe flaps of the collar. After emergence of the guide from the collar, it may be removed from the tie, the latter adjusted, and the knot tied in the ordinary way.

By arranging the pilot tab to project from the same end of the guide as that to which the clips are connected, it is possible to push the guide into the channel of the collar by upward force applied to the tie. That is, the cooperating clip and clamp members of the guide embrace the upper edge of the tie, and the junctions between them rest on such upper edge, while the pilot tab protrudes from the same edge. Hence when the tie is raised into the collar channel the guide is positively lifted by it. The tab and clip portions project oppositely to one another from their respective junctions with the main part of the guide. Such main part, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, consists of the plate portion a, and in the alternative form shown in Figs. 2 and 3, consists of the legs e and y.

A form of the device having a single clip and a single tab is feasible and operative, however, I prefer to provide two of one and one of the other, symmetrically arranged, so that the same guide may be used with equal facility in leading a tie into acollar from either the right or the left side.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A collar fold opening device adapted to be secured to a necktiefor movement with the latter between the folds of a collar, comprising a U-shaped body portion of relatively narrow Width adapted to be clamped upon the necktie, and having only one upstanding guide means extending above the bight of the device for engaging the apex of the fold, said upstanding guide means being of less thickness than the body portion so that movement of the necktie with said device thereon through a collar will open the fold of the said collar to properly position the necktie within the fold thereof.

2. The combination of a necktie, a collar, and a collar fold opening device, said collar fold opening device comprising a U-shaped body portion of relatively narrow width, said body portion including a plate portion and resilient clipmeans, and said device having only one upstanding pilot tab extending above the bight of the device for engaging the apex of the fold of the collar, said upstanding tab being of less thickness than1 the body portion, said device being adapted to be temporarily attached to the necktie by reason of `said clip means and said device being effective to aid in positioning the tie between the folds of the collar.

ALBERT F. HENDERSON. 

